1. Field of the Invention
It is well known that archery is an extremely difficult sport, in that the delivery of an arrow accurately to a target depends upon several variables. Such variables include the length and position of the draw, the steadiness with which the bow is held in the hand and the release of the arrow from the same anchor point with each shot. In addition, the elevation of the arrow must be adjusted to compensate for the distance over which it is to travel and an adjustment must frequently be made for windage. The delivery of an arrow accurately in order to kill game efficiently is particularly difficult due to the variables described above. This difficulty is increased because of the human error in accurately judging distance, a shortcoming which sometimes results in the arrow either falling short of, or flying over the target. Such errors in judging distances can be minimized by the use of sight pins and sighting devices of various design, which aid one in determining the distance between himself and the target.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various devices are known in the art for increasing the accuracy of an arrow delivered to a target. Typical of such devices is the "Archer's Bow" disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,001,470 to Y. J. Nyvall, which device discloses a folding bow having a pair of top and bottom mirrors serving to reflect the target, the image of which is reflected by the top mirror onto the bottom mirror and thence to the eye of an archer. The lower mirror is reticulated in such relation to the longitudinal center of an arrow seated on arrow support ledges in the bow, that when the target appears in the lower mirror at the intersection of cross hairs in the reticule, the arrow can be accurately directed toward the target. The patent makes it clear however, that an aiming allowance must be made for trajectory and for air currents. U.S. Pat. No. 3,163,697 to D. S. White, discloses an "Archery Bow Sight Utilizing Optical Range Finder and Coupled Sighting Element". The patent is drawn to a dual, spaced mirror device arranged such that the viewer will simultaneously see both a real and a reflected target image. As the viewer looks at a target, a slide is manipulated until real and reflected images are both seen at the same height. When this position is reached, the bow is aimed at the target and is properly positioned so that an arrow shot from the bow will assume the proper trajectory for the distance of the target.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,524,440 to Walter D. Hill, discloses an "Archery Bow Including Mirror Sighting Device" which includes an upper and lower mirror aligned in substantially vertical relationship with respect to each other forwardly of the bow, with cross hairs or other target-aligning means mounted on one of the mirrors. The lower mirror is focused on the target while the upper mirror is focused on the lower mirror and reflects the target image to the archers eye. The mirror mounting the cross hairs may be adjusted vertically to compensate for distance and horizontally, to compensate for windage. U.S. Pat. No. 3,861,051 to Gerald I. Killian, discloses an "Arrow Draw Check for Archery Bows" which includes a mirror mounted for movement with an archery bow sight and arranged to reflect to the eye of the archer, the image of a tip of a drawn arrow in registry with an index mark on the mirror. A "Range Finding Device for Archery Bows" is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,788,701 to G. G. Browning, which device incorporates multiple mirrors mounted below a single upper mirror for reflecting the image of the target and transmitting this image to the eye at various levels to facilitate trajectory adjustment of the bow for accurate delivery of an arrow to a target.
It is an object of this invention to provide a bow sight for long bows, recurve bows and compound bows, which sight assists the archer in adjusting the bow trajectory for distance.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a bow sight which is applicable to bows of varying contour, design and construction and which is easily adjustable to compensate for the drop of an arrow over a wide range of distances.
Another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved sight for long bows, recurve bows and compound bows, which is characterized by a housing carrying three enclosed mirrors, one of which mirrors is adjustably mounted at the top of a housing, another fixedly mounted at the bottom of the housing and the third compensating mirror adjustably located between the top and bottom mirrors for determining when a range compensation should be made relative to a previously determined target distance.
A still further object of the invention is to provide a new and improved bow sight for recurve bows, long bows and compound bows which includes a periscope device having a compensating mirror mounted between top and bottom mirrors, which compensating mirror serves to determine when the target is at a range which is either greater than or less than a predetermined and calibrated range when the archer views the target through the bottom mirror.